For a retiree, Ina Pinkney doesn't sit around much. Pinkney recently closed her beloved breakfast/lunch spot, Ina's, going out with a grand finale on New Year's Eve, capping a restaurant career that spanned 22 years in three Chicago locations. In the three months since, she has moderated and sat on panels, speaking about women chefs and the restaurant industry in general; joined a memoir-writing group ("some pretty damn accomplished people there," she said, admiringly); made a fistful of TV appearances; lent her name to a charity or two; and tirelessly promoted her one and only cookbook, "Taste Memories: Recipes for Life and Breakfast," which came out late last year.

Late last month, Pinkney attended a special Sunday brunch at Prairie Grass Cafe in Northbrook; chef/partner Sarah Stegner whipped up signature dishes from the cookbook, while Pinkney schmoozed with customers. This Sunday, she'll be at Cicchetti as a special guest of that Streeterville restaurant's inaugural brunch.

"I told you, before I become a relic, I have to make hay," she explained.

Still, life is different. The pre-dawn wake-up calls are in the past. She can dine late.

"The other day I was out till quarter to 12," she said. "I didn't even know there was a quarter to 12."

And, of course, she's free to dine wherever she wants. So what would be more fun than to invite the Breakfast Queen (a nickname that makes up in accuracy what it lacks in modesty) for some morning meals?

So for a few fun mornings last month, it was breakfast with Ina and me (introduced, when necessary, as her cousin Ira).

As you might imagine, Pinkney has some pretty firm opinions on breakfast.

"Breakfast is a one-course meal," she said. "So the one course you're bringing out has to be special. For me, the first thing, it has to be delicious. A lot of food is OK. But if it's not delicious, why bother coming back?

"I need a place that's peaceful and thoughtful," she said. "Where the food feels like someone made it just for me. There has to be an aesthetic — friendly but not too friendly, cheery but not too cheery."

That said, Pinkney, like so many others in the restaurant business, is pretty much a dream customer. Everything is a "please" and "thank you so much." She'll notice the negatives — she notices everything — but focuses on the positives.

The first phrases out of Pinkney after she sits down are "latte, please," and "could you please turn the music down?" Those two requests accommodated, Pinkney is a happy camper.

Well-prepared baked goods bring her joy. She thinks restaurant music should be lyric-free, because they interfere with conversation. And she wonders what the deal is on breakfast potatoes.

"I can't figure that out," she said. "When did potatoes become the go-to side on so many plates? They're everywhere."

Brunch

It's clear that Pinkney has high hopes for this restaurant; one of her regular customers, one with a trustworthy palate, told Pinkney, "This might be the new Ina go-to place."

The meal starts out promising enough. The dining room, a converted loft space on Orleans Street, is sunny and cheerful. Numerous semiprivate alcoves make this an ideal destination for group breakfasts. (Serious groups can rent the Board Room, with has a 10-seat granite table and AV and Wi-Fi capabilities.) Indeed, there are two sizable groups dining and conferring as we arrive, and in consideration of that, the music has been switched off.

The menu, which is huge, makes a point to emphasize the restaurant's commitment to local and sustainable products.

But the opening bite, a sampler of mini pancakes (buttermilk, red velvet and banana), fails to impress.

We're happier with the braised pork eggs Benedict, perked up by a chipotle hollandaise, but the Chi-Town skillet, one of four skillet dishes on the menu, is your basic egg-potato-cheddar-bacon-sausage combo (though the sausage is made in-house) that relies a bit too heavily on its jalapeño component.

Service is fast and attentive, but overall it's a meh. "I wanted it to be better than it was," Pinkney said. "It has the makings. But nothing stood out as 'this is worth eating again.'"

Brunch, 343 W. Erie St., 312-265-1411

Kingsbury Street Cafe

Locations don't come much more memorable than "across from Whole Foods, next to the strip club," but that's where you'll find this breakfast charmer, more spacious and sunnier than its street appearance would suggest. And the club next door will let Kingsbury patrons park in its lot for $5 (with validation), a real bonus in this car-clogged neighborhood.

Pinkney has been to this restaurant perhaps three times and smiles approvingly when our waitress asks her, unprompted, "Latte, right?"

Fresh pastries are the kitchen's strong point ("She's a remarkable baker," says Pinkney of co-owner Hoa Dong), and so we dive right into the day's selection — blueberry and lemon-chia muffins, split in half and toasted. Both are extraordinary; beautiful texture and flavor, and just the right level of sweetness.

Next are an egg white frittata with spinach, tomato, cheese and shrimp ("The shrimp are huge," Pinkney observes. "Such a treat.") and the messy but yummy "piggy moo cluck sandwich" of runny-yolk eggs, ham, bacon and cheddar on a fresh, and remarkably soft, ciabatta roll.

"I'm not a ham girl," Pinkney says. "But this is good."

The neat-as-a-pin interior impresses Pinkney as well.

"Look at how everything's stacked," she says, pointing to the open kitchen. "There's an orderliness to everything."

Before we leave, two fans stop by.

"We're so sorry you didn't get on 'Check Please,'" they say (Pinkney was a finalist for the host gig). "We voted for you twice."

One the one hand, Omar Soliz's Bridgeport restaurant is homey and welcoming, with its profusion of natural materials and a chalkboard map pinpointing the Midwest farms that supply his restaurant. But it's undeniably energetic as well, thanks to lively Latin music; a series of local artist paintings depicting sultry, red-clad señoritas ("That woman in the picture, with the boobs? That was me, all the time," Pinkney jokes); and a breakfast/lunch menu that, in mid-March, offered a corned beef and cabbage omelet with chipotle giardiniera. That was a bit more adventure than we could attempt.

But when our chummy waitress suggests the avocado fries, we bite, and we're very glad we did. The lightly battered planks have crispy exteriors and avocado insides that are practically at their melting point. Add a little chipotle aioli sauce for dipping, and you have a singular treat. Which we inhale.

Later, we sample a breakfast sandwich that was solid, if unextraordinary, and fluffy cinnamon-apple pancakes topped with roasted apples that were very good, though in such a comically large portion that we couldn't eat half of it.

"Omar puts a lot of love and care into his restaurant," Pinkney says, "and he has plans that are well thought out. I did like the experience, all told. This could be a destination; I can relate to the food here. I probably wouldn't come here on a weekend (too noisy, she guesses), but I'm very protective of my weekends anyway."

Nana, 3267 S. Halsted St., 312-929-2486

The Winchester

We visit this Ukrainian Village newcomer (it opened in February) on a very cold, snow-covered day, which makes the restaurant's natural-wood interior feel extra warm and appealing. The decor looks simple, almost minimalist. But, Pinkney says, it's not that simple.

"Somebody spent money here," she says, casting her eyes at the light fixtures and the furnishings. "You can tell."

The menu is small, and that bothers Pinkney some. "So limited," she says. But there are highlights, including a terrific starter called avocado toast — a high pile of mashed avocado topped with Fresno chili, ruby-red grapefruit, cilantro and lime, ready to be spread on thick triangles of whole-grain wheat toast. The quinoa hash brown was a revelation, a crisp, gluten-free disc (of quinoa, egg, garlic and onion) full of nutty flavor and good-for-you textures, the kind of dish Pinkney says carries "that halo of health." The breakfast sandwich with roasted peppers, cheddar and kale is very good, and the quiche serviceable.

"That (quinoa) really stood out," Pinkney says later. "The menu is small, but without question everything is prepared with great care. It's not a destination, but I'd go back if I were in the area."

The Winchester, 1001 N. Winchester Ave., 773-698-8703

Victory's Banner

When the sugar packets bear quotations from the Sri Chinmoy ("A moment's peace can and shall save the world" is one), you know you've stepped into a breakfast nook with a difference. Owner Pradhan Balter has been a student of the Indian spiritual master for nearly four decades, and the laid-back atmosphere includes waitresses clad in saris.

The Roscoe Village storefront is cramped, in a cheerful way. Ina watches as an elderly customer, who uses a walker, approaches the front door. Several employees hustle out to help her up the two steps into the restaurant, and as she makes her way to a table, a waitress whisks away the second place setting and sets out a half-glass of water. Ina beams her approval.

The menu is vegetarian, but the kitchen accommodates vegans or special diets.

Our eyes are drawn to the uppama, the single strangest-sounding thing I've seen on a breakfast menu, so, of course, we have to try it. It's a hot, savory wheat cereal mixed with peas, tomato and onions. On the side are bowls of coconut chutney and plain yogurt. It couldn't be less appealing visually, but it's yummy, in an Indian umami sort of way.

"I was worried when I saw pesto, because so many places use too much," Pinkney says. But this is just right. The "award-winning French toast" deserves every accolade that's been heaped upon it. The bread is thick and fluffy, and the raspberry sauce (one way to order it; peach butter is the other) is so abundant that the maple syrup (the genuine stuff, naturally) is almost superfluous.

"It was a surprise that I could eat a toasted wheat cereal with vegetables and coconut chutney for breakfast," she says. "But the food is extremely clean, and the eggs are very well prepared. I love this place."

Victory's Banner, 2100 W. Roscoe St., 773-665-0227

Epilogue

At the end of our visits, I asked Pinkney the Big Question: Are you prepared to crown an heir?

"No," she said, though it's obvious that she has been thinking about it. "I think the closest we're going to get is Victory's Banner and Kingsbury Cafe. If we could do a mashup of those two …"

So, for now at least, the city's only Breakfast Queen remains the person in front of me, finishing her latte.

Join Chicago Tribune “Home on the Range” food columnist Leah Eskin for an evening of storytelling and nibbling with “Breakfast Queen” Ina Pinkney and WBEZ food and health reporter and producer Monica Eng. Eskin will be talking about her new book, “Slices of Life,” a collection of columns covering life’s ups and downs and the recipes that can soothe even the most trying times. Click here for tickets.